Day 21: to Haute Clocher (France; 55k; 1167k total)

The last supper with Katy and Ed was comic: turning the wrong way out of the campsite we trudged along an endless road past a closed supermarket and ended up at a ring road McDonalds. Katy is an ethical eater and a vegetarian - McDs in France doesn't even sell a veggie burger. But it does sell beer and after a couple of those her dinner of salad, chips and ice cream seemed bearable. (Ed and I eat almost anything, of course). The experience was enlivened by a) more free wifi, and b) a pair of drug dealers getting discretely arrested.

Breakfast this morning - our final final meal together- was a lot more exciting. The reopened supermarket had a great bakery and we scoffed shocking amounts of fresh croissants and pain au chocolat etc. When in France...

Then we went our separate ways. Today for me was a lovely 35k along scenic peaceful canals, bookended by 10k hilly slogs on slightly too busy roads. This resulted in a rather shorter than expected day, due to a very effective shortcut, but I find myself pretty tired despite all, so am happy to have one.

The canals were amazing, much of it was nature reserve of various kinds and I saw just a handful of cyclists, a handful of fishermen and a handful of boaters all day. About twenty locks though, it must be a very effortful stretch to go through by boat. Where there wasn't wetland there was very old beech forest, with villages from the Middle Ages (says the tourist info signs).

One kilometre from my hotel, a funny sight: 25 Norwegians in a field!

My hotel is another convent - not apparently functioning as one but peaceful and with a super garden. A bed and an en suite feel very luxurious after a whole week of camping!

Day 20: to Roth, France (64k; 1112 total).

Yet another lovely day with good weather, good cycling, and good company.

Today was Ascension Day, a public holiday in both Germany and France. As a result the cycle paths were humming with cyclists (+/- children and dogs in trailers), runners, walkers, in-line skaters, people in wheelchairs and all other imaginable forms of human-powered transport, including a guy speeding along on a thing that looked like a bike but was operated by a sort of step machine.

Mid-morning we found ourselves in the most apocalyptic scene, with huge derelict machine works all around, half grown over with lush vegetation. We stopped for a coke at the new 'weirdest stop' spot - in the middle of this disaster zone an Italian restaurant with a plant-filled conservatory and immaculately tended garden. And a bunch of middle age German cyclists who solemnly lit up and ordered beers. 

We pushed on for lunch in Saarbrucken, a large city at the end of this stretch of industrial wasteland. Ed and Katy bought tomorrow's train tickets and we cycled straight through the completely closed (for the holiday) shopping centre. We ended up at random in the most fantastic pizza and pasta place, with wifi (almost unheard of here) and where you could watch the pasta being made. 

Post lunch was a short ride but felt a bit hard, we were perhaps all in a bit of a carb-daze, but the scenery improved dramatically as we headed out of town, with beer gardens, parks and pretty canals. At some unmarked point we crossed into France and celebrated with wine/beer/Orangina in Sarreguemines which was pretty, at least along the riverside.

Our location tonight is a very large and completely deserted camping park in Roth, which is apparently famous for hosting a triathlon. I asked if we could swim in the lake and got a long and complex explanation which I'm going to interpret as 'I'll pretend you didn't ask me that'. Despite that it's a relief to be speaking French, where I can hardly remember any words but at least have a reasonable idea of what's going on.

Day 19: to Siersburg (63k; 1048 total).

A very satisfying day all round, and in which I broke through the 1000km mark.

Today we left the Moselle river and picked up the Saar, a much smaller river heading southeast towards France. Still lots of cyclists but mostly of the retired-on-holiday-and-electric-bikes variety.

The cycling today was quite different and on occasions absolutely perfect, with a bit of a Scottish loch feel. (I am reminded of Ewan McGregor in The Long Way Round, who whenever he is somewhere beautiful immediately says 'oh it reminds me of Scotland!'). There was a bit of up and down, mostly up as the river climbed, leading to some large locks. There was also a fair bit of nice off-road along gritty tracks. I am requested to note that we saw a red squirrel. And a lot of giant orange slugs.

Had a nice lunch stop in a pizza restaurant in Metlach, a quiet town where every shop was the factory outlet of a homeware store. I ordered vegetable soufflé and got a delicious pasta bake. Another triumph for the translation app! Also had mildly stressful ice cream stop in Merzig which was a dump of a town, and where we went round the same roundabout repeatedly. We did establish that Kaufland (a very large supermarket) really does not sell either of the two types of gas cannister I can use. We are in fact now out of gas, sadly, and currently have no plan for getting more.

Not that this matters as tonight we have found a beautiful peaceful campsite with a good looking restaurant and only friendly Dutch campers for company. The sun is shining, we have a bottle of chilled Reisling, and all is very well in my world.

Day 18: to Luxembourg and back! (85k) (985 total).

Despite being squeezed between a main road, a railway line and a river, we all slept well. Given this, and the considerable attractions of a) not having to pack up and b) cycling without panniers, we decided to leave our tents where they are, and take a little side trip to Luxembourg. 

Luxembourg is in fact only 5k away, where the Moselle starts to form the border between it and Germany. We rode down the Luxembourg side, which was rather disappointing in that it was mostly cycle path immediately adjacent to busy road. We lunched in the 'picturesque town' of Remich which was also rather underwhelming. Katy felt she got the full French experience by getting a ham omelette when she ordered cheese (Katy is veggie). 

After lunch we cycled on down the river to Schengen which is tiny and famous for the agreement but also, fittingly, is the three-way border between France, Germany and Luxembourg. Then we crossed the river back into Germany and cycled home down lovely off-road tracks.

The day was notable for two things. One, Horace heroically saved me from a too-fast Luxembourgian driver (he clipped Horace's bar end with his wing mirror, which had no effect on me, and he did stop to apologise). Second, delicious black forest gateau in the weirdest cake stop yet, a darkened tearoom reminiscent of 1898, when the establishment was in fact established. 

Day 17: to Konz (85k; 900 total)

When I woke at dawn after a lovely sleep there was neither a helicopter nor any rain to be heard. When I woke again at 7 there were both. Oh well. Watching the helicopter as we breakfasted on coffee and croissants was fascinating. Spraying the vineyards with fungicide every ten days seems like a never-ending job: the hillsides are enormous and steep and the helicopter gets in very close - and then has to land frequently to take on more spray. Rather him than me.

Back on the road, we had quite a long day, in part because we got caught in an absolute monsoon-like downpour in the middle of a vineyard just after lunch. By the time we reached shelter (ie a bus shelter) the roads were streams and it was raining so hard each drop splashed back up. The mud was very red as well so the water running down the roads was an impressive colour. Luckily all our waterproof stuff seems to be doing the job just fine. And Horace is obviously a wet-weather soul: immediately after today's drenching the clunking stopped and, miraculously, the cycle computer started working again. What a contrary bike he is.

Notably fewer cyclists around on a showery weekday, and far fewer with dogs. Taking your dog for a cycle seems a common Sunday pursuit around here - yesterday we saw everything from small dogs in baskets to a labrador in one of those kids trailers with his head sticking out the top!

Second to last stop of the day was in Trier which is a large historic (Roman etc) town. We needed tourist info and some food but such a large town is a bit overwhelming late in the day. In tourist info we managed to buy the next cycle map but they could tell us nothing useful about the next town (10k away!). However we did successfully find more camping gas earlier today so on the whole we're ahead.

We had planned to stay at a site a little way out of Konz but, in trying to find a supermarket, found a perfectly decent one right by the town itself. While it has a busier road nearby it won on sheer convenience. 

Tomorrow we either leave the Moselle for the Saar (a river heading directly south) or, excitingly, may head into Luxembourg for a day. To be debated once we are all showered and fed and onto a second bottle of wine, perhaps!

Day 16: to Wehlen (80k) (815 total)

Minus my computer I need to start a tally of total distance. 80k today felt good, it was warm but not roasting and such beautiful countryside, lots of off-road paths and ever more steep vineyards on each side.

Ed bought a spoke from a man first thing and fixed his wheel which has been fine. Horace was grindy for much of the day but recovered at the end. Katy has slight sun allergy but it recuperating now. We all had a brief (in my case very brief) swim in the Moselle when we got to the campsite tonight. It is very peaceful and has a wonderful vineyard view. We have been warned that there will be a helicopter hovering tomorrow at 6am to spray fungicide... Unless it rains. Here's hoping for helicopters!

Day 15: to Cochem (40k)

A very satisfying day, though somewhat curtailed in the cycling stakes by mechanical disaster.

We woke up to rain but it cleared by the time we got up and organised with sweet bread and Nutella and hazelnut coffee for breakfast. All was going well as we cycled merrily through the vineyards... And then a loud twang and Ed broke a spoke. Apparently he does have the tools to mend it, but has no spare spoke. So we wheeled him to the nearest station and popped him on the train to Cochem, a larger town which our guidebook promised has three cycle shops. Well, it does but they all close at lunchtime on a Saturday, and Ed missed them by minutes. One is open briefly tomorrow, so we very much hope they will be persuaded to fix it then. 

Katy and I cycled on in a massive headwind to meet him in Cochem. It is a lovely, if somewhat touristy town. The hordes (including Dutch motorbike hordes) are apparently drawn by the ridiculously picturesque castle, a very old town, vineyards, and a mustard mill (?!). We had a lazy Mexican lunch with delicious Riesling, and then found a small campsite a little off the main drag. We wandered up to the castle which has spectacular views over the gorge, and through the town for a bit. Back at the campsite we got a little further in our exploration of weizenbeer, cooked up some veggies and couscous for supper, and then had a quick stop at the bar, which featured a darts match, and a very cute cocker spaniel pup. 

I do really hope Ed's bike is fixable tomorrow but in the meantime, Cochem has proved a pretty nice place to be stranded!